New homes popping up north and south

A home under construction in Woodbrook, a Neal Communities development in Manatee County. Neal marked the completion of the company's 9,000th residence on Wednesday, July 3, 2013, with a ceremony at the home of Stephanie and Dane Martinez. Company President Pat Neal estimates that 500 employees and subcontractors are working for the company at any one time.

Published: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 at 4:45 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 at 4:45 p.m.

PARRISH - Two residential developments now steering through the permitting process could bring nearly 4,000 new homes to the northern edge of Manatee County, the latest in a rush by builders to capitalize on Southwest Florida's blooming home market.

The massive projects joins new developments from Parrish to Punta Gorda that signal the restored confidence among builders, who are breaking ground on new homes at the most rapid pace since the Great Recession battered the industry nearly seven years ago.

More builders also are turning to areas east of Interstate 75, where developable land is less expensive and more readily available.

With planned infrastructure improvements in northeast Manatee, including the widening of U.S. 301 and extension of Fort Hamer Road, Parrish has become a prime target for future growth.

But similar developments are sprouting in Lakewood Ranch and even South Sarasota County — giving way to a residential building boom in the region that mirrors the run-up of the mid-2000s.

"We have seen new home starts jump tremendously," said Tony Polito, regional director of the industry researcher Metrostudy Corp. "We do expect to see continued development, and part of that is there is a big lot shortage in Hillsborough. That will all push growth to those Parrish areas."

Villages of Amazon South

Neal Communities is plunging into Parrish with a project that calls for nearly 2,000 new homes, along with some office and general commercial space.

But the busy Lakewood Ranch-based homebuilder first must rezone 1,204 acres of vacant pasture to move the project forward.

The Villages of Amazon South will be tucked between Moccasin Wallow Road and Dickey Road, west of U.S. 301 in Parrish. Early blueprints include 1,999 residences, with another 60,000 square feet of commercial space.

The Amazon moniker picked by Neal was an effort to capture the hundreds of new workers expected to soon begin punching time cards at the new Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Hillsborough, just one exit north of the Manatee County line.

The builder plans to sell home sites to four other public builders, with models ranging from smaller retirement abodes to luxury dwellings and larger houses for middle-class families.

Neal hopes to break ground by June.

The project joins 30 other subdivisions in 14 communities — stretching from Parrish to Lee County — where Neal is building homes. That includes the new 732-home Silverleaf subdivision in Parrish and 2,000 houses that can be built in the company's Grand Palm development in south Venice.

"The problem with Manatee and Sarasota has always been jobs," company founder Pat Neal said. "This Amazon center will be a huge economic impact, and there's other companies already inquiring about moving here to serve Amazon. Those people will need homes."

"We are at the beginning of the cycle, and we are going to have a big boom."

Parrish building boom

Neal's new Parrish project is in lockstep with another residential development of similar scope just a block away that also is navigating approval from Manatee County planners.

National builder Homes by Towne has applied for the necessary permitting to build 1,600 residences on 695 acres that sits east of Carter Road, north of Moccasin Wallow Road and south of Buckeye Road in Parrish.

The new Eagle Pointe development will include 740 single-family homes, another 270 attached villas and 600 multifamily units, according to preliminary site plans filed with the county.

A subsidiary of Homes by Towne bought the vacant land from tomato grower McClure Properties at the height of the housing bubble in January 2006 for $28 million, court records show.

The Milwaukee-based company once eyed building 1,000 to 1,300 single-family homes with walking trails, a clubhouse and baseball fields on the property. Those plans sputtered when the market crashed, but the builder has held onto the property despite economic turbulence.

Homes by Towne also is building in Country Club East in Lakewood Ranch, Village of Greenbrook in Lakewood Ranch and GreyHawk Landing in Bradenton.

Company representatives could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

"In 2005 and 2006, people really started coming to Parrish, but we were hit by the crash just like everyone else," said Leslie Wells, who runs a real estate brokerage in Parrish. "Quite honestly, this is one of the last places left, so everyone is buying up as much land as they can here."

Rural areas flourish

The recent flurry of homebuilding activity can be seen throughout Southwest Florida.

Residential building during the first nine months of the year in Sarasota and Manatee counties is on track to surpass the region's totals from 2012 by 45 percent and topple the mark set in 2011 by 91 percent, county records show.

If builders continue pulling permits at their present pace, 2013 would finish as the best year for the industry since the recession took hold.

Much of that growth has come in more rural areas like Parrish, where savvy homebuilders plucked chunks of land out of foreclosure at deep discounts during the downturn.

Demand for homes in the Parrish area also is mounting because buyers can generally get more home for their money when compared with other popular housing communities,

Parrish has been fetching buyer contracts from budget-minded baby boomers, but the bedroom community also has become popular among commuters travelling to Tampa, said Alan Anderson, executive vice president of the Manatee Sarasota Building Industry Association.

Anderson expects that cultivation to continue in accordance with the new Town Center mall that is under construction just 10 miles south on University Parkway, the recent business expansion at Port Manatee and the new Amazon distribution center in Ruskin.

"Parrish is still a rural community, and there's an attraction to certain buyers who like that," Anderson said. "That corridor is going to continue to grow because it's so well connected to a larger business market. We have so many folks who work in St. Petersburg or Brandon and live in those Parrish communities."

That was the case for Sake Irfan.

Irfan works as an engineer in Sarasota, but his wife spends her days as an attorney in Tampa. So the couple split the difference and bought in Parrish last April.

Irfan said he liked Parrish because the school district was better, crime rates were lower and taxes were cheaper than most areas of Hillsborough or Bradenton.

"We didn't know much about the community, but we wanted something that was reasonable for both of us," Irfan said. "This was right in the middle. The second thing is we wanted a newer home, and when we looked at the difference between Sarasota and Parrish, it was like $70,000."

<p><em>PARRISH</em> - Two residential developments now steering through the permitting process could bring nearly 4,000 new homes to the northern edge of Manatee County, the latest in a rush by builders to capitalize on Southwest Florida's blooming home market.</p><p>The massive projects joins new developments from Parrish to Punta Gorda that signal the restored confidence among builders, who are breaking ground on new homes at the most rapid pace since the Great Recession battered the industry nearly seven years ago.</p><p>More builders also are turning to areas east of Interstate 75, where developable land is less expensive and more readily available.</p><p>With planned infrastructure improvements in northeast Manatee, including the widening of U.S. 301 and extension of Fort Hamer Road, Parrish has become a prime target for future growth.</p><p>But similar developments are sprouting in Lakewood Ranch and even South Sarasota County — giving way to a residential building boom in the region that mirrors the run-up of the mid-2000s.</p><p>"We have seen new home starts jump tremendously," said Tony Polito, regional director of the industry researcher Metrostudy Corp. "We do expect to see continued development, and part of that is there is a big lot shortage in Hillsborough. That will all push growth to those Parrish areas."</p><p>Villages of Amazon South</p><p>Neal Communities is plunging into Parrish with a project that calls for nearly 2,000 new homes, along with some office and general commercial space.</p><p>But the busy Lakewood Ranch-based homebuilder first must rezone 1,204 acres of vacant pasture to move the project forward.</p><p>The Villages of Amazon South will be tucked between Moccasin Wallow Road and Dickey Road, west of U.S. 301 in Parrish. Early blueprints include 1,999 residences, with another 60,000 square feet of commercial space.</p><p>The Amazon moniker picked by Neal was an effort to capture the hundreds of new workers expected to soon begin punching time cards at the new Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Hillsborough, just one exit north of the Manatee County line.</p><p>The builder plans to sell home sites to four other public builders, with models ranging from smaller retirement abodes to luxury dwellings and larger houses for middle-class families.</p><p>Neal hopes to break ground by June.</p><p>The project joins 30 other subdivisions in 14 communities — stretching from Parrish to Lee County — where Neal is building homes. That includes the new 732-home Silverleaf subdivision in Parrish and 2,000 houses that can be built in the company's Grand Palm development in south Venice.</p><p>"The problem with Manatee and Sarasota has always been jobs," company founder Pat Neal said. "This Amazon center will be a huge economic impact, and there's other companies already inquiring about moving here to serve Amazon. Those people will need homes."</p><p>"We are at the beginning of the cycle, and we are going to have a big boom."</p><p><b>Parrish building boom</b></p><p>Neal's new Parrish project is in lockstep with another residential development of similar scope just a block away that also is navigating approval from Manatee County planners.</p><p>National builder Homes by Towne has applied for the necessary permitting to build 1,600 residences on 695 acres that sits east of Carter Road, north of Moccasin Wallow Road and south of Buckeye Road in Parrish.</p><p>The new Eagle Pointe development will include 740 single-family homes, another 270 attached villas and 600 multifamily units, according to preliminary site plans filed with the county.</p><p>A subsidiary of Homes by Towne bought the vacant land from tomato grower McClure Properties at the height of the housing bubble in January 2006 for $28 million, court records show. </p><p>The Milwaukee-based company once eyed building 1,000 to 1,300 single-family homes with walking trails, a clubhouse and baseball fields on the property. Those plans sputtered when the market crashed, but the builder has held onto the property despite economic turbulence.</p><p>Homes by Towne also is building in Country Club East in Lakewood Ranch, Village of Greenbrook in Lakewood Ranch and GreyHawk Landing in Bradenton.</p><p>Company representatives could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.</p><p>"In 2005 and 2006, people really started coming to Parrish, but we were hit by the crash just like everyone else," said Leslie Wells, who runs a real estate brokerage in Parrish. "Quite honestly, this is one of the last places left, so everyone is buying up as much land as they can here."</p><p><b>Rural areas flourish</b></p><p>The recent flurry of homebuilding activity can be seen throughout Southwest Florida.</p><p>Residential building during the first nine months of the year in Sarasota and Manatee counties is on track to surpass the region's totals from 2012 by 45 percent and topple the mark set in 2011 by 91 percent, county records show.</p><p>If builders continue pulling permits at their present pace, 2013 would finish as the best year for the industry since the recession took hold.</p><p>Much of that growth has come in more rural areas like Parrish, where savvy homebuilders plucked chunks of land out of foreclosure at deep discounts during the downturn.</p><p>Demand for homes in the Parrish area also is mounting because buyers can generally get more home for their money when compared with other popular housing communities,</p><p>Parrish has been fetching buyer contracts from budget-minded baby boomers, but the bedroom community also has become popular among commuters travelling to Tampa, said Alan Anderson, executive vice president of the Manatee Sarasota Building Industry Association.</p><p>Anderson expects that cultivation to continue in accordance with the new Town Center mall that is under construction just 10 miles south on University Parkway, the recent business expansion at Port Manatee and the new Amazon distribution center in Ruskin.</p><p>"Parrish is still a rural community, and there's an attraction to certain buyers who like that," Anderson said. "That corridor is going to continue to grow because it's so well connected to a larger business market. We have so many folks who work in St. Petersburg or Brandon and live in those Parrish communities."</p><p>That was the case for Sake Irfan.</p><p>Irfan works as an engineer in Sarasota, but his wife spends her days as an attorney in Tampa. So the couple split the difference and bought in Parrish last April.</p><p>Irfan said he liked Parrish because the school district was better, crime rates were lower and taxes were cheaper than most areas of Hillsborough or Bradenton.</p><p>"We didn't know much about the community, but we wanted something that was reasonable for both of us," Irfan said. "This was right in the middle. The second thing is we wanted a newer home, and when we looked at the difference between Sarasota and Parrish, it was like $70,000."</p>